


Grave Consequences

by introverted_kitten



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: A hug is what he gets, Angst with a Happy Ending, Clueless Danny Fenton, Danny Fenton Needs A Hug, Danny needs a break, Danny’s parents find out about his powers (but don’t find out he’s Phantom), Enigma - Freeform, Fluff and Angst, I Don't Even Know, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Identity Reveal, No one knows anything about Phantom, The A Listers respect Phantom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:23:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27962231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/introverted_kitten/pseuds/introverted_kitten
Summary: In Amity Park, the public opinion of Phantom is beginning to change.Because of this, a group of people decide to repay their hero for all he’s done for Amity. By making a memorial for him in the town square. Only.. they know close to nothing about Phantom and his afterlife, but that won’t stop them finding out who their hero is, even if it means they find out a few secrets along the way.All the whilst Danny fights to keep his parents from finding the truth.
Comments: 38
Kudos: 292





	1. That’s It?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"Take this burden away from me,  
>  And bury it before it buries me."_
> 
> — Cold Is The Night - The Oh Hellos

  
It was a dull late Wednesday afternoon, the sky blemished with freckles of clouds as the sun gingerly peeked over the clouds. Shrieks of joy and chatter filled the air as Caspar High students were released after six hours of gruelling education. Most flocked straight to the Nasty Burger, swarming like flies.

Others took an alternate route the opposite way and down to the centre of town, much to the confusion of their friends. But they didn’t say anything. They knew better not to.

What made the whole situation weirder was that Mr Lancer was accompanying them, walking behind the group with a furrowed brow and an expectant look on his face. The group of teens ignored him, skipping ahead eagerly to, _wherever_ they were going.

Said group included; Dash Baxter - star quarterback and king of the A-Listers, Paulina Sanchez - hottest girl in Caspar High and the queen of the A-Listers. Dash and Paulina had been in a relationship, but things had gone rocky and the relationship had diminished. Despite this, they still remained neutral. 

After the two A-Listers who strutted with confidence - came James Robinson - a small ratty boy with glasses on his nose and phone in hand. The A-Listers wouldn’t touch him with a five foot pole if he could be avoided, but for this they were somewhat mutual frenemies. Then Rosie Sanders - a short girl with mousy hair and a curious attitude. Nothing got past her. Finally, Adam, who lingered to the back of the group, trying not to quiver as he walked.

“That’s, _it?!”_ Paulina suddenly came to a stop, her voice a high pitched squeal in horror. The rest of the group startled. If her reaction was this, then something wasn’t good. Or it was just Paulina overreacting. They hoped for the latter.

But as the group spread out in formation, they could see that the teenager was right. Whatever they had hoped for when applying to the government to go through with their plan, this was not what most of them had thought. Even Lancer was somewhat speechless.

“Huh? Are you telling me months of pressuring the government for permission for a memorial and _this_ is what we get?! Not cool.” Rosie huffed beside Paulina, folding her arms tightly against her chest. This was an abomination!  
  


“I know right?!” Dash Baxter agreed beside her, and Rosie blinked in shock. Huh. The two were agreeing on something. “The disrespect, just man, he’s our hero! And this is what he gets?”

“Doesn’t even have any words on it.” Opposite Dash, James leaned forward, trying to squint at the stone through his glasses. “Nope.” He confirmed.

In the middle of the clump of teens, was a small, disheveled slab of stone, weathered and cracked on one corner, the opposite of what they’d asked the government for. A memorial for Phantom, clean cut stone with lettering. Not this.

“Do you think they had a bias to Phantom? Would make sense really, if they gave us this. Normally memorials are honoured and cared for. This looks like something a cat vomited up!” Rosie exclaimed, anger in her gaze, and the group silently agreed.

Although Phantom was deemed public enemy number one, the group were avid supporters of Phantom. Amity Park was still unsure about the ghost, but the flock had firm beliefs of him being good. And it was only fair that in return, Phantom got something to honour him.

It had been about five months ago, when Rosie had sparked inspiration from Paulina’s shrine in her locker (it was still very creepy to her), and decided to honour Phantom with not a shrine, but a memorial. She’d been instantly joined by James, and then Adam had hesitantly come next. Soon enough, Paulina heard of their scheme, and surprisingly wanted to help, which of course enlisted Mr Lancer and Dash. So they’d gone to the government, asking permission for a small memorial to be pitched in the main square. It had taken a while, but it was finally allowed. None of the cluster knew what would be of the memorial.

But now it was a bitter disappointment.

“They might not know anything about Phantom.” Adam huskily coughed behind the huddle, taking a quick glance towards the stone -”and neither do we know much about him either. Real name? Dates? Family?”

They all went into a mulled silence. That was true.. maybe they did need more information on Phantom for a memorial, but this wouldn’t do.

Dash sighed as he looked down at the stone, small, wimpy and meek. Just the opposite of Danny Phantom, really. Quite sad. Why couldn’t the rest of the town see he was a hero? Maybe his influence would help. Yes! He was a jock, so he could tell- no make people view Phantom as a hero. Starting with Fenturd. No doubt his freako parents had somehow influenced his brain, the nerd did run away at the sight of a ghost.

“And how are we gonna do that?” He questioned, an eyebrow tilted towards Adam, the runt quivering under his glance. God, he was such a wimp.

“I don’t know.” Adam lisped back, feeling intimidated by Dash’s accusing glare. Hey! You try being confronted by a jock two grades older and much, much stronger. They’d never really talked before, but Adam knew better than to get on the blonde boy’s bad side. With a groan, his mind scoured for a possible solution. “Well, we could ask Phantom himself- but that may be too direct. Could do research about him online, ask the Fenton’s for information-”

“Yea, yea. Alright. We get it.” Dash snapped. That shut Adam up instantly.

“Does that mean we’ll get to meet the ghost boy?” Paulina gasped, hands clasping together. Her heart pounded at the idea of meeting the ghostly hero, her prince.

“Ew.” To the right, Rosie shifted uncomfortably. Paulina’s crush on the ghost was waay out of control. She felt sorry for Phantom. (Unless he liked her back, then, well he was an idiot). Getting information should be alright. Although she knew nothing when it came to ghosts. “Maybe we should ask the Fenton’s first, I mean we barely know anything about ghosts.”

“Ew I’m not going to Freako Fenton’s house!” Dash recoiled backwards like he’d been slapped.

“Neither.” Paulina tutted. “They’d probably shoot me with one of their weapon things.”

“I don’t really fancy that idea.” Adam shifted uncomfortably, looking at his feet. “James? You’ve been quiet.”

James, who’d been lost in thought was suddenly brought back by various pairs of eyes fixated on him. “Yeah, uh. I was thinking of searching for the death and birth records. It’ll take a while, but Rosie, you can go ask the Fenton’s?”

Quite frankly, Rosie was surprised her friend was listening. 

“Sure James.. thanks a lot, you traitor.” She drawled, but nodded with reluctance. If no one else was going to ask them, she would.

She prayed she would be able to remain in one piece at that house.

* * *

Danny yawned, wiping tired eyes as the school bell rang, a blessing in disguise. Ignoring the happy shouts of fellow classmates as they eagerly rushed downtown, the raven-haired boy lingered out the classroom. Beside him, Lancer let out a whoop and slyly sprinted past the student, down the corridors, scarf trailing behind him.

Danny blinked. Once. Twice. Then rubbed his eyes again. Was the tiredness getting to him? Mr Lancer, of all people, _happy?_

“I’m either going crazy or that really was Mr Lancer running down the corridors. Huh. Whaddya know. A teacher breaking school rules.”

Shaking his head, Danny turned down the blank corridors, watching the fluster of classmates disappear into the distance, probably to the Nasty Burger. However, he was really in no mood to hurry. Sam and Tucker were both in detention - they’d taken the blame for him after a ghost fight went particularly wrong, and Danny was sure that Mr Falluca didn’t believe a word of what either of them said, but he’d gone with it anyway. 

Guilt pitched at his heart. His friends shouldn’t have to take the consequences for him. They were good friends, sometimes too good for him. Usually the raven haired teen would wait - they waited for him after detention so it was only fair - but his parents wanted to see him right after school. Immediately.

And Danny had no clue what they wanted. Had they found out his secret? Were they going to disown him? Dissect him?

He could imagine it now, all smiles and hugs when he approached them at the front door, not to show their anger to the neighbours, all fake of course, but that would be the last slither of a smile he’d see in a while, only if it was artificial. Then they’d shove him inside, scream and drag him down to the lab, expressing how much a _freak_ he was. Then the scalpel and the bright infiltrating light. The next smile would not be of paternal or maternal nature, but a devilish happiness as a scalpel severed his skin, like unwrapping a Christmas gift. To them he would be, wouldn’t he? The only half ghost known, even on the dissection table he had the decency to not reveal Vlad’s secret, even if the man deserved it. Green and red, like a poisonous Christmas mix, desolate of the jolly part. 

Then maybe Jazz would be there too, she’d be horrified, but somehow their parents would convince her it was for a good cause. They’d tell their hunter friends, and sure the GIW would join somehow.

His legs almost collapsed underneath him as Danny trembled, hands shaking uncontrollably as he staggered down the pavement, no Tucker or Sam behind him. Some of the A Listers had gone the opposite way of the Nasty Burger, but he didn’t care. Maybe he could wait for them. Yes. Then his parents couldn’t do anything with Sam and Tuck there. _But that would put them in danger._

Up ahead, in sight, came the brawling figure of FentonWorks, tall and a pasty red with the blinking neon signs and huckery of an Ops Centre.

“Dammit Fenton. Get yourself together!” The boy muttered to himself. There still remained some fear and anxiety, but he was being ridiculous.

_Or was he?_

“Mom and Dad never specified why they wanted me home, but I’m sure it’s for some invention or something.” In reality, he wasn’t sure at all.


	2. Invisible Cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _  
> "And the truth,  
>  Is all I’ll ever be,  
>  Is a shadow cast on the open sea." _
> 
> — Hollow Sound - The Satellite Station

Danny felt his heart pound in his chest as he peered around the door with stormy blue eyes. He expected his parents to be there, threatening him with malice in their eyes and ghost weapons whirring.

But the scene was.. awfully mundane.

Both his parents were sitting at the kitchen table. Jack was messing with some inventions, while Maddie was drinking silently from a mug.

“Uh.. you wanted me?” Danny stuttered, and his parents' heads snapped up. Quick as lightning, his mother got out of her chair, letting a gentle embrace weave around his shoulders. His breath tightened as she guided him to the chair, and so he sat.

Infront of him, his father beamed, oblivious as usual. However today must’ve been different, as Jack raised an eyebrow to his son.

“You okay there, Danno? You look like we’re going to interrogate you or something silly like that!”

His hands threaded together as Danny gave a small smile, probably coming off as a grimace, trying to ease the facade of fear.

_ Well actually I was thinking along the lines that you’d dissect me first… _

“Aren’t you?” Danny questioned, watching as his mother sat down next to Jack, “because it sure feels like it.”

Maddie looked down awkwardly, away from her son, and she gave Jack a sideways glance. They hadn’t meant for it to come across that way, but clearly, Danny was terrified. He was sunk into his seat, ice blue eyes wide, shoulders down which let the collar of his red and white shirt lean down, revealing a mottle of bruises on his collarbone.

A small gasp escaped her lips as she glanced at her son in further detail. There wasn’t just the mottling of bruises, but his eyes were dark and heavy, ashy bags under his eyes from a lack of sleep, and clean cut gouges of..  _ were those scars?..  _ where his t-shirt hung low off his scrawny body.

“Danny, we’re worried about you.” Maddie remarked at her son, then gestured to the multitude of scars on his collarbone. “These don’t just appear out of nowhere.”

Beside her, Jack gasped in shock. He’d seen the scars.

“It’s nothing for you to worry about.” Danny narrowed his eyes at his mom, following her eyes to his exposed collarbone, where he yanked up his shirt instantly in panic.

“Danny, we’re your parents. It’s our job for us to care.” Maddie attempted to explain. Jack nodded enthusiastically.

“Well it sometimes doesn’t feel like it.” Danny muttered, thrusting his head in his hands. Sure he loved his parents. But sometimes it really did feel like they put their work above him and Jazz. “You’ve only just started mentioning this now. Any why? Because you’ve only just noticed it now?”

“Danny-boy-“ Jack started.

“But it is, isn’t it? You both noticed my grades were failing months ago, but you never said anything. When the inventions launch at me, you don’t do anything.” Danny snapped, looking up at his parents with angry eyes. He couldn’t take it anymore! Months and months, and there was no attempt to help, and only now they even attempted?

Both parents were silent.

“Danny-“ Maddie flustered, but Danny cut her off.

“If only you hadn’t invented that stupid portal, none of this would’ve happened!” His breath was heavy, as he stared back at both of his parents. 

Then it hit him.

Maddie had a pained look in her eyes, whilst Jack closed his eyes pitifully. Slowly, Danny dragged his chair out, standing up and clasping his hands to the back of the chair.

“I’m just going to go upstairs now.” He murmured, running into the next room, not waiting for his parents to respond. 

But instead of going up the stairs, Danny ran behind the wall, double checking his parents couldn’t see him. Allowing the rings to change him to ghost form, he turned invisible, allowing himself to hover back into the kitchen.

Letting out a sigh, he let his chin rest in his hand. Regret filled his chest, thick and unmoving. Now his parents were quiet and had looks of guilt on their faces. He felt ashamed. He knew his parents blamed themselves for the portal accident, even though they didn’t know how severe it had truly been. They blamed themselves for it. And it didn’t take a genius for Danny to know that his parents were thinking that.

That’s why he didn’t tell them his secret. He was scared that they’d blame themselves for his accident, and Danny didn’t want his parents to feel guilty for his half death. It was his responsibility and his fault that the portal started working. And because of the views on his ghost half. Although Amity was becoming more neutral on their opinions of him as Phantom, there were still a big select of people who loathed him. Including his parents. 

“That’s it, isn’t it?” 

Danny was brought off his stupor by his dad muttering. He’d never seen his jovial, enthusiastic father so quiet.

“The portal accident. Oh Maddie, what has our son been through?”

“I don’t know Jack. He’s our boy - and this whole time we never even realised he was hurting. It was us, Danny said so, Jack.” 

“If it wasn’t for the portal and us being so blind, maybe our son would be alright… what happened to him?”

“What do you mean Jack? We know the portal accident affected him. He’s getting injured, his grades are dropping.”

“But how? Why is he getting injured?”

“I don’t know Jack.. I just don’t know.”

The hapless conversation drained off after what felt like forever, yet the aura of despondency hung in the air, both Maddie and Jack having demoralised grimaces on their faces.

Suddenly, the room blared with a furious alarm, red light flashing profusely. Danny bit back a yelp of shock, almost falling out of invisibility. It was one of the ghost alarms, no doubt alerting his parents of his presence.

_ “DANGER! Level 7.2 ghost detected in a metre radius. Proceed with caution. Ghost is currently using 27% power level. Invisibility, intangibility, flight. Do not approach-“ _

“It’ll probably be Danny setting off the ghost alarm again.” Maddie sighed next to her husband, even more guilty than before. There was probably no ghost, but for some reason the alarms detected him as one. And it was affecting Danny, badly.

_ “- anomaly detected. Configuring. Anomaly. Ghost cannot be identified. Ecto-signature of foreign type than normal. Unfamiliar ghost type. Dangerous. EVACUATE PREMISES IMMEDIATELY!.” _

“Even the ghost alarm doesn’t know what’s going on.” Jack slumped into the table. 

_ Thank the ghost zone.  _ Danny breathed a sigh of relief. They thought he was upstairs. And the alarm couldn’t detect him as Phantom. Although ‘unfamiliar ghost type’ was not good news to his ears. That meant his parents knew there was another species of ghost.. which meant more discovery.. which meant the revelation of his secret.

Then there was a knock on the door.

Both parents turned to the door, staring at the wooden frame for a good few seconds.

On the other side, Rosie held her breath as she awaited the arrival of the Fenton’s at the door. This was it. She had been the chosen one out of all the Memorial Club to interview the Fenton’s about Phantom. Her fingers dug into the notepad in her hands as the door opened. A strangely depressed looking Jack Fenton peered around, his wife beside the kitchen table.

“Yes?” Jack asked, voice hollow.

Bewildered by the strange behaviour, Rosie held the notepad up. What was wrong with them? Why weren’t they shooting green guns or chasing ghosts?

“Uh— I was wondering if I could do an interview?”

“Of course.” Jack nodded, stepping aside. Thoughts of Danny pushed aside for now. This kid wanted ghost information. Nothing better than teaching a new generation!

“So what is it you want to learn, sweetie?” Maddie smiled, and Rosie gave a small smile back, while looking around. The kitchen looked.. normal.

Above, pressed into the ceiling, Danny floated cautiously as he watched the girl — she was in his grade and a few classes — but they weren’t on speaking terms. What was her name? Rebecca? Rachel?

Rosie gulped. It was now or never.

“I was wondering—“ she hesitated, fiddling with the notepad,”—if you knew any information about Phantom?”

Danny froze.

What? Why — why did she need information on  _ him?  _ Yes, his ghost form was quite well known, but people rarely went out of their way to seek his  _ parents  _ for information. Normally people just relied on news stations rather than to go to the  _ eccentric maniacs  _ that were the Fenton’s. Unless you were Paulina — who for a full week tried to train with Fenton weapons to win the ghost boy over. She finally quit when realising that being near the Fenton’s and  _ ghost hunting equipment  _ was most likely going to scare him off. Unbeknownst to her, he’d been watching her the entire week. He huffed in a dusty laugh. That had been a funny time.

But if she was like Paulina — oh Infinite Realms — she wasn’t another obsessive fangirl was she? Please no. His mind trailed off to where he’d seen her — last week in the lunch hall, standing next to  _ Paulina. _

Great. Another struggle.

Danny loved his fans — he really did — but when they went so far to question ghost hunters about him, that crossed the line.

“ _ Phantom.”  _ His mother hissed, and Danny’s neck prickled in fear. Rosie took a step back. Jack clenched his fists.

“Don’t say you idolise that ectoplasmic scum!” Jack exclaimed, eyes wide with worry. That ghost had already plagued a potential future ghost hunter.

Somehow, Danny found himself agreeing — not with the scum part — but the idolising part. Rather someone thought he was evil than trying to obsessively catch him.

“No! I don’t really know what to think about him actually — but I’m just interested in learning about ghosts. And what better to start with Phantom?” Rosie tilted her head, giving a smile that definitely wasn’t convincing. She did think that he was a good ghost — but best not to tell ghost hunters that. It was weird, she’d been expecting an outburst, but it still shocked her.

“Well you’ve come to the right place!” Maddie smiled. “Phantom has been one of our main targets for a while now — number one to the dissection table.”

Rosie paled quickly. As did Danny, holding back the bile rising in his throat. Now his parents were getting closer to finding out his secret with the injuries and had grades, just as his ghost form was number one on their dissection list.

“Well I was considering it — perhaps telling you, that is. But I’m so not telling you now!” Danny hissed, flying intangibly through the ceiling and into his bedroom.

Rosie could feel her face flush with nausea, and she managed to hold it back, thankfully. It unnerved her how.. at ease the Fenton’s could be with this.

_ “Well I was considering it— _

_ so not telling you now!” _

A voice — from nowhere. She looked at the ceiling, but nothing was there. Jack and Maddie also looked aimlessly around the room.

Then the temperature ruffled a breeze, feathery and unatural — it wasn’t just any normal breeze. Rosie thought she knew what it was — there had been enough ghost attacks to be familiar.

“Was that a ghost?” She clamoured, and the Fenton’s nodded.

“Don’t worry kiddo. The Fenton ghost shield will crisp them! You’ll be safe.” The orange jumpsuited man grinned, as if trying to ease reassurance.

She winced. Now she was more concerned for the ghosts' safety than hers.

“Anyway.. back to Phantom?” She prompted. She wanted to get the answers and then run the hell out of there. 

“We don’t know much, Phantom is a mystery to this town. He’s not like the other ghosts.” Maddie admitted, slightly ashamed that she and her husband — considered the towns verified ghost hunters — didn’t know much about Amity’s enigma of a “hero”. Neither did the ginger haired woman want to install doubt into the girl.. she hadn’t asked her name.

“I just realised, we didn’t ask your name! I’m Maddie and this is my husband Jack.” She gestured to Jack, who waved.

“Rosie Sanders. Why is Phantom not like other ghosts?” Her head tilted as Rosie scrawled down some notes, interested.

“He claims he’s good!” Jack boomed, materialising a Fenton bazooka from nowhere and hoisting it on his shoulder, “no ghost is good!”

“That’s right sweetie.” Maddie smiled to her husband, “- and he’s had a massive power increase these past few months for a ghost so young! His power is developing so quickly, we’re worried-“ Maddie swallowed and cut off. No need to scare her.

Rosie pondered. Interesting. His power was developing, and for a ghost so young. Young? How old was he? The girl knew he had the appearance of a teenager, and she did think that Phantom really was her age, but he could be older. When did he die? Or — form?

“When did he form?” Rosie asked, glancing down at her notes, brushing a strand of brown hair out of her face. Dates were the most important. Any clues of a past identity was a breakthrough.

“When he first showed up? That’s a good question kid! And have I got a story to go with that! It was about September last year, you remember when that Lunch Lady ghost attacked? Of course you would — it was the first attack. Anyway, I had the Thermos in my hand, then there was an explosion, meat everywhere, a catastrophe! And the worst thing, the horrific discovery that the Thermos wasn’t in my hand. Gone! No idea what had happened — then I see the Thermos — and it’s floating, just floating in midair. Then there was this echo and it’s the ghost scum Phantom, ‘ _ Thanks for the Thermos!’  _ — he shouts — still hate that ghost and his stupid attitude — then he’s gone. Never got the Thermos back.” Jack finished his story, not out of breath in the slightest. Although he did look downcast from the Thermos being taken.

“Well, at least you know your invention works, I suppose. When was it?”

“True kid. They do work brilliantly! FentonWorks inventions always do. When was it? The Lunch Lady attack? September 2004.”

_ A possible formation date? This is brilliant! _

“How long does it take a ghost to form, y’know, after their death?” Because realistically, Phantom wouldn’t have formed right away after death. There had to be some time period between his first fight and formation. Even then, Phantom’s first sighting didn’t verify that his death was near that date. His death could’ve been months, even years before that.

“Normally ghosts form straight into the ghost zone after their death. It takes a while for them to build up a stable form and powers. It can vary from months to even years. However, we think Phantom might’ve actually formed here in Amity Park — not in the Ghost Zone.” Maddie explained. “If this is the case, Amity Park would be his haunt, which explains why he gets through ghost shields, manipulating his haunt to mask his ecto signature and presence to ghost inventions.”

Rosie nodded along, pretending to listen as she hummed thoughtfully. The Fenton's theories were interesting, but the fourteen year old wasn’t there for the scientific side of things.

“I think I understand that, but it’s kinda weird how he’s so young and so powerful. I swear Phantom’s only like my age!” She exclaimed.

“Oh, Phantom won’t really be the age he’s portrayed at. He might look like a fourteen year old kid— but really he’s probably hundreds of years older!” Maddie exclaimed, then narrowed her eyes, “Don’t be fooled by that scum, you hear me?”

“—Yes.” After a second's hesitation, Rosie gave a small nod, as if to comply with Maddie’s actions. Meanwhile, she was thinking the complete opposite. Phantom was a hero in her eyes, and it did hurt to hear their remarks of dissections and insults to him. But really, they were ghost hunters, what else did she expect?

_ Maddie says he looked like a fourteen year old, so potential date of birth 1990, perhaps? Give or take a year or two. _

She scrawled down a few extra notes in the book, page now filled to the brim with information from the interview. Who knew ghost haters who didn’t really know much about Phantom could provide her with some solid leads? It would be great information to give to James, who was scouring the birth and death records — his search was fruitless so far — there had been no new notifications on the group chat about any finds. This was a first.

“Thank you! I think that’s all I need, this will be great for the club meeting tomorrow morning.” The words slipped out of her mouth before she could stop them.

“A ghost club?!” Jack Fenton boomed, his voice echoing around the room, weird gun.. thing swinging on his shoulders as he moved. “What’s this about a ghost club?”

Oh crud. Her first attempt at getting information and she’d already blew the cover. See, the Memorial Club was a secret amongst Caspar High — sure people knew that they had a club going on (of course they did, Paulina and Dash were in it and they were the most popular kids in Caspar). But what the club was  _ about _ was kept schtum from the rest of the school. Really, her and James were only really there because James was good at data and files, Rosie herself because she’d come up with the idea. Adam was there because — well actually she didn’t know why. His planning abilities maybe? Mr Lancer was there because he’d overheard Dash and Paulina confronting her and James about the idea and decided to help out.

“Uhh- nothing- nothing.” The fourteen year old smiled, trying to clear her slip up, “There’s just a club we have at school where we just discuss stuff that happens in Amity Park. Lots of the time it ends up being about ghosts because they’re the only thing happening.”

“Aww..” The larger man pouted, looking downcast, “They should’ve made a ghost club.” he whined.

“Don’t worry dear, I’m sure we can get the school to set up something.” Maddie smiled cheerfully, and Rosie inwardly winced. The topic of the club had moved away, but if she was the reason that the Fenton’s inventions blew up Caspar High or something, then count her out.

“Uh.. I’ll be leaving now. Also I don’t think the school allows anymore clubs since we have a restricted number set.” She babbled, briskly stepping back to the front door. Of course she was lying, but they didn’t need to know that.

“Stupid schools not seeing how awesome our ghost skills would be!” The orange jumpsuited man exclaimed, a sharpness of anger and disappointment in his voice. Jack shoved the bazooka under his arm, to which a brisk click of a trigger being pulled sounded.

A green blast sparked, and shot. Rosie barely had anytime to cover her face before the shot exploded in front of her, green smoke clouding her vision. She coughed hazily, waving the air frantically.

“Oh dear.” Jack Fenton said, glancing at the bazooka in his hands. “I better fix the safety trigger on this.” He disappeared down the stairs.

“Bye!” Rosie spluttered, opening the front door and bursting out into the street. Oh heck, she didn’t even know what that stuff was. It hadn’t hurt her, only made her throat a little irritated. It looked like the green stuff that Phantom shot from his hands, ectoplasm.

Taking her phone out of her pocket, she swiped onto the group chat while walking, keen to let the group know about the new developments she got.

**Rosie**

_ Interview with the Fenton’s went okay, managed to get some new information for Phantom. _

**James**

_ That’s great! Has it got stuff to do with the records? Been searching these records all day and it’s killing me _

**Paulina**

_ Something new about my ghost boy?! _

**Rosie**

_ Yup! Got a potential birth and death date _

**Dash**

_ Death date? Man that’s weird to think like that.. _

**James**

_ Well Phantom  _ **_is_ ** _ a ghost.  _

**Dash**

_ I know that, dork. Just.. it’s weird to think that he’s dead. _

**Paulina**

_ Just because he’s dead, doesn’t mean he isn’t perfect! So.. why can’t you tell us now? _

**Rosie**

_ Jack Fenton just shot me with a bazooka — I think I’m permitted to at least have a break until tomorrow  _

**James**

_ You alright? The Fenton’s can be.. eccentric _

**Dash**

_ Come on, something like this was gonna happen anyway! They’re all freaks. _

**Rosie**

_ I’m alright. Meeting tomorrow at break? _

**James, Dash, Paulina, Adam read at 17:23PM**

Rosie smiled to herself and put her phone back in her pocket, beginning the walk home. Tomorrow would be interesting.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the FentonWorks household, Maddie leaned on the kitchen bench, observing the room around her. The kid had just left barely a few minutes ago, asking for an interview about Phantom. Perhaps that ghost club would be a good idea… teaching the residents of Amity that ghost were evil.

Now that she thought about it, what had happened to the ghost earlier? The alarms had gone off, but her and Jack had ignored it. It probably was just detecting Danny. Oh Danny. Her son had rushed upstairs after they’d confronted him, she hadn’t heard anything from him, not even a peep. Whereas a crash and a yell followed downstairs, Jack was breaking the lab.

But there had been a ghost, it couldn’t have just been Danny accidentally setting off the alarms. Maddie slightly regretted not launching into action there and then, but Rosie was there, and she was sure the system would’ve gotten rid of it. There had definitely been a ghost, the weird, fractal,  _ unnatural  _ chill that cooled the room's temperature, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, the lurking, lingering presence that someone was watching her. And the weird voice, seeming angry and bitter (not that it made a difference, all ghosts were evil and bitter), but what made it so different was the youthful tone, raw with harsh hissing anger, that seemed unfamiliar to the person speaking. 

Shivers went down her spine as Maddie looked up to the ceiling, where the voice had spoken. Something about  _ not telling “you” now  _ and  _ was considering it. _ She didn’t know who it was addressed to, but it must’ve been her and Jack, it couldn’t have been Rosie, no teenager she knew was being threatened by ghosts. Whoever it was, they apparently weren’t telling her something. 

Who could it be?

They were young (strange for a ghost), knew her personally, and the voice had a strange sense of familiarity, but Maddie just couldn’t place it. And they were keeping secrets from her. Who was currently keeping secret from her that she knew?

Maddie froze.

It was Danny’s voice.


	3. Discoveries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

>   
>  _"When’s the last time I saw the stars in your eyes?  
>  You take off like a rocket, and you’re gone."_
> 
> — Constellations - Molto Bene

If you told Edward Lancer sixth months ago that he’d be helping a group of his students fund a memorial for the ghostly hero of Amity Park, he’d laugh at you. Or shout a book title in ridicule. Now.. was different.

It was called the Memorial Club, set up by five of his students, and the teacher had overheard the group discussing the project. In all actuality, it had been Dash Baxter demanding Rosie Sanders and James Robinson to allow the boy and Paulina Sanchez to join the club — threatening tone along with it. There had to be some authority, didn’t there? So what better than him?

There’d been clear disdain for him to join the group, he could see that, even Paulina had considered leaving the formation, despite the love for her clearly adored “ghost boy”

They were gathered in the library, Lancer leant on a table, overlooking the four students as they worked. Miss Sanders was still late. Apparently she’d been hit in the face by Jack Fenton with a bazooka.

James was sitting at the computer, searching through millions and millions of records, no luck yet by the weathered grimace on his face. Adam was perched next to him, a document open on the desktop, compiling notes. Behind them, loomed Dash Baxter, more bored by the minute. On the right side of James and Adam, sat Paulina, gazing dreamily at images of Phantom on the internet. Nothing looked promising.

Edward didn’t exactly know what to do either — he was only here to watch over the students. He knew almost nothing about Phantom.

A bawling yell pierced outside the library windows — near the football fields, the familiar sound of blasts echoing in the fields. Something — _someone_ clattered into the library wall, making Lancer jump in shock. His students all gave individual yelps of surprise.

“Move away from the windows!” The teacher instructed firmly, but he needn’t have spoken as the teenagers scrambled to the further wall. What was going on, he didn’t know. A vivid green blast sparked furiously near the window, followed by a bloody pink bubbling, following the same yell as before. 

There were voices, tinny and echoing, the fury clear. The first was authoritative and prim, but with a slick and sadistic twist behind it. The other — the one that had yelled — although adamant and unwavering — Lancer could not deny the youthfulness behind the voice as his heart sunk.

“What’s going on?” Adam quivered, peering out from behind a desk chair. More blasts reverberated, a laser show of neon pink and green.

“What do you think, you idiot? It’s a ghost fight!” Dash exclaimed next to the younger boy, hands splayed out towards the window in a dramatic fashion. The teacher was about to reprimand him, but another blast shot across the sky, interrupting him. Not the time.

“I hope we get to see Inviso-Bill! He’ll help us with the project.”

Lancer was about to pitch in that Phantom was not allowed to know about the memorial — Paulina already knew that — before James interrupted.

“I think Phantom’s already here. Has been the whole time, by the looks of it.”

The five of them watched, amongst the clouds of ectoblasts, as Phantom rose up, green eyes darting around, obviously on the lookout for whatever ghost he was fighting.

“Come out Plasmius! I know you’re here somewhere.” The young ghost swivelled around, seemingly searching for his enemy. Lancer swore there was a flash of bewilderment in his eyes.

“Oh Daniel, my dear boy. Your skills seem to be lacking each time.” Lancer almost fell back in shock as a ghost materialised beside the hero. He was tall, broad-shouldered, dressed in white and black with a red insider cape, hair styled up into points, sharp fangs bared intimidatingly. Edward almost collapsed in fear. He dropped down against the wall, near where the rest of the students were.

Best that the ghosts didn’t catch witness of them. Somehow, Phantom didn’t seem fazed. An unimpressed grimace scrawled the boy's features as he drew out a cylindrical object. 

“I wonder why. This early, on a school day. Really Plasmius? Or were you going to the bingo hall?”

“Pfft! Even your insults are lacking. Calling me old. How bland.” The ghost, now named Plasmius, tutted, folding his arms.

“Yeah? Well let me direct you to the bingo hall.” Phantom panted, green eyes blazing. “Here!” 

Quickly, he swiped the Thermos from behind his back, pressing a button that flayed a blue light before Plasmius could even protest.

“Thank heavens that’s over.” Phantom sighed, shoulder sagging. Edward noted his ragged appearance, the pitch black HAZMAT suit that was streaked with dirt and grime, his white hair ruffled and sooty. On Phantom’s shoulder, the HAZMAT was torn, leaking green, and on his hip the black fabric burned through, revealing a bright green burn, which Phantom clenched his hand around.

“Better get this sorted out.” The ghost muttered in pain, then vanished into thin air. Probably invisible.

Although some of the ghost’s conversation left the English teacher truly befuddled. The banter and insults were normal, Phantom was known for that behaviour. But, _Daniel?_ That was new.

But Phantom did have a first name, didn’t he? Danny Phantom. _Daniel_ Phantom.

Perhaps that was why James was only hitting dead ends. He was searching “Danny” not “Daniel” on birth certificates and death certificates, it was always first names. Not nicknames. He soured slightly at the idea of finding a death certificate for what — Phantom couldn’t look over fourteen.

The same age as his students, who now tentatively picked themselves off the floor, brushing themselves back off and sitting at the seats.

“So that happened.” Dash remarked plainly, glancing out the window at the still green tinted sky.

“Mr Robinson.” Lancer spoke as the spindly boy tottered into his seat, turning to face the teacher as he adjusted his glasses on his face.

“Yes, Mr Lancer?” The boy asked, briefly switching attention to the desktop.

“Try searching the name Daniel, instead of just Danny.” Edward stated, a light chuckle adorning his features as Adam slapped his face into his palm, settling down into his chair.

“Of course, full names are always on a birth or death certificate.” Adam turned around, facing back to the document.

“You know, the trio always seem to be around Phantom. I say trio, but really it’s only the goth and geek. Fenton nowhere to be found.” Paulina remarked, crossing her legs as she perched on a bench. “Fenton’s never around when Phantom is.”

“Hah! It’s like he’s secretly Phantom or something. But not really — ghosts can’t be alive.”

And speaking of Daniel’s — Lancer dreaded the thought that Mr Fenton would most likely skip the day's lesson. It was as if he had a secret second life, the amount of times he went missing.

“Ugh! We’re so far from the truth!” James groaned, slouched across the desk. The overweight teacher had to agree. Just because they had a validated first name didn’t mean that they’d instantly find him. There were still dates, places, families.

“At this point, you’d think Phantom wouldn’t want us to find anything about him.” Adam remarked.

And that statement could be true actually. Ghost’s past lives were incredibly taboo, the Fenton’s had said a ghost would be extremely aggressive when approached with memories of their past lives. Phantom wasn’t aggressive — but it was painful information no doubt. What had happened?

Lancer wanted to respect the privacy of this ghost, but it was too far now. Bashfully, he wanted to know more about Phantom too. Who had he been? Why was he so young — so different from the other ghosts?

There was no doubt Phantom knew — did he? Who was he kidding, of course Phantom knew he was different. He was such an arcane to the citizens of Amity — capturing his own type, disappearing under ghost equipment, actually good (although some still didn’t believe that..)

“We have to get some information! He deserves this memorial.” Paulina finalised, and the rest silently agreed. Her face lit up. “An assignment? On finding information about Phantom? As long as _we_ don’t have to do it, we’re already doing that.”

Well, Lancer would internally debate the involvement of Paulina — she’d just stared at pictures — but she did raise a good idea. There was an English lesson in less than an hour that needed an assignment.

“Hopefully Rosie arrived with them dates. Then we can actually get somewhere.” James muttered.

As if summoned, Miss Sanders appeared around the door, notepad with scrawled writing on it.

“Sorry. Got detention so I was held back.” The girl smiled, sniffling a little bit. Lancer put it down to the bazooka she’d been shot with.

“So what was it like in the freak’s house? Did they accuse you of being a ghost and go all wacky on ya? Last time I was there, I was shrunk down by one of their weird inventions, but it _was_ with Phantom-“

Ah yes. The infamous tale. Dash had gotten shrunk by a Fenton invention, along with Phantom and had to go through the house and unshrink themselves. He didn’t want to know.

“-but what was weird, really, he kept going through all these outfit changes? Like his shoes went red, then it was jeans, and I swear the back of his hair went black-“

“It was alright. Mr Fenton got a bit excitable and accidentally triggered a gun at me. There was a ghost in the house. All the alarms were going off, but they ignored them. Then there was this weird chill.”

“Can we just get the dates?” James raised an eyebrow, and the mousy haired girl smacked the notepad on the table, making Adam jump.

“Born in 1990? Oh! That makes him our age!” A smile spread across Paulina’s face, and the rest of the teens did at this realisation.

Lancer’s heart sunk. That meant Phantom really was the age of his students, and died too young. It could’ve been one of his students. And maybe if he wasn’t aware enough.. it _could_ still happen.

It had taken him at least a year to begin to even give Dash detentions for the way he treated Daniel. Thank heavens he hadn’t lost a student.

Or so he thought.

“Yup!” Rosie nodded, confirming. “And.. died in 2004.”

Any sort of happiness was replaced by a forlorn realisation. Phantom was a ghost. Of course he was dead.

Still didn’t make it any less harsh a reality.

“He died our age. That’s.. not so exciting.” James mumbled as he typed the dates into the database, with a range. They weren’t specific details, but they were far from the pitiful sorrow they’d been that morning.

“Oh wow… this. This actually numbered it down a lot.” James muttered, eyes cast on the records, all staring back with taunting manner. Seeing them made it all the more real.

One of them records was confirmation of Phantom’s past identity and — it didn’t feel right.

“This feels wrong.” Rosie muttered “We’re going after something in the past.”

“There's Daniel Jay, Daniel Trotter and Daniel Waters. All three died within the past three to four years, within the general area of Amity Park and surrounding towns.” James states, then gulped.

The air was heavy with tension. 

Then the bell rang.

* * *

Maddie tried her best to pull on a brave face as Jack tattled on next to her about inventions. It was now Thursday morning.

Ever since she’d recognised that as Danny’s voice.. she struggled to know _how._ One thing she was adamant about. That was Danny’s voice. But her son was nowhere to be seen, and there had been a cold chill that devoured the air.

That morning when Danny had come down for breakfast, all in a hurry, limbs akimbo as he scrambled down the stairs, backpack thrown on his back, toast in mouth, she’d mustered up the courage to ask him about it. But too late, her fourteen year old had already dashed out the door.

There had been a sense of disappointment in her, but what else did she expect? Danny had been separating off from them for months now, nothing would be any different to him, only to _her._

Looking up at the clock, she observed the time. 10:30.

Danny would be home in at least another four hours, add an extra five or six if he went astray again.

Jack stood beside her, still repairing the remnants of the Fenton Bazooka (he’d managed to accidentally fire the bazooka again, this time at Jazz’s thesis. She hoped her daughter wouldn’t be furious when she got home).

“See, I just need to pull this switch here and put this cartridge of ectoplasm- See Maddie! Works like a charm!” Her husband exclaimed happily, throwing the gun above his head. Maddie couldn’t find the energy to muster up a smile.

Surprisingly, Jack noticed this.

“You okay Mads?” He questioned, strangely tame, putting down the gun. He raised an eyebrow. “You don’t seem normal today.”

“It’s just that ghost yesterday. It wasn’t-“

“Don’t worry Mads! I’m sure the new system disintegrated it good.” Her husband clenched a fist, navy eyes filled with determination. Maddie however, was praying it had not. That was her son.. not a _ghost._

(Meanwhile Danny nursed a deep burn on his hip in English class, trying not to let the wound show through. It wasn’t from the fight with Plasmius that morning, but rather the updated Fenton security systems had given him an agonising burn _that just wasn’t healing._ )

“That’s what I’m worried about Jack.. the portal accident, everything, it all connects to Danny.”

“Where did this spring from?” He seemed concerned at the sudden topic change. Maddie was normally a very headstrong character.

“After Danny ran upstairs, there was that chill in the kitchen. You felt it, I felt it. Remember?”

A nod.

“There was a voice afterwards, but it was young, and it didn’t seem like the type that would get naturally angry. Mentioning that they’d been considering telling us, but then they completely change their minds.”

“What do you mean Mads? Why would a ghost address us? Was it specifically naming us?”

“No-“

“Then it’s probably not for us. You know ghosts are deceiving things.”

“This one was different.”

“What do you mean?” Jack turned to face her, head tilted, “Is this because of the alarms? I said, the security probably got it. Them new guns burn through ectoplasm like flour in a sieve.”

Maddie blanched. _Danny-_

“No it’s not that Jack — it’s the ghost.”

“What’s with the ghost? Was it an important one for study? I’m sorry if so but there not much left done there, you can always experiment-“

“Danny’s the ghost!” She finally yelled, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. If the new security system was that bad.. her poor boy would be destabilising the second. He’d seemed fine that morning, but a further glance to her thoughts told otherwise. Danny had a limp that morning, a bad one, and had constantly clenched his hip the whole day. 

She hadn’t done anything, putting it down to Danny sleeping funny in bed — if he even was getting any sleep at all, that was. Had she really missed that much? 

She didn’t know how her boy was how he was — was he even a ghost? Maddie didn’t care. She loved him.

_That’s probably why he kept it a secret.._ She didn’t exactly know the extent of the secret, but by the looks of it, something had happened to her son. How? He was scared of their acceptance, that’s what.

“The portal accident.” Jack muttered, somehow following her thoughts. “He said last night about it, remember? He must’ve heard us ranting on about dissecting Phantom, then decided not to tell us.” 

“We were so close.” Maddie whispered, then looked up to her husband. “Whatever, whoever Danny is — I don’t care. But when that boy comes back I’m giving him the biggest damn hug of my entire life.”

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this might actually end up being more than five chapters.. I was gonna write more in this but decided it ended off better where it did.
> 
> Also Happy New Year! Even if it is terribly late, I’ve not been able to update as much ever since I started online learning. 
> 
> Staring at an iPad for five hours straight is not fun! And the addition that my exams were cancelled, which is a good thing considering I missed so much school but also terrible because now I don’t have the opportunity for actual grades achieved by me. Now the teachers judges the final grades. :(


	4. Cursed Forthcoming (Guess I’ve Got Some Explaining To Do)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _  
> "So lay me down,  
>  And we’ll watch all the tables turn.  
>  Keep looking on,  
>  ‘Cause I don’t know where we’re heading now."_
> 
> — Animals - Kyko

The bell had just finished ringing as Mr Lancer entered his classroom, few students scrambling into their seats, feigning innocence. Their attendance was more than usual, even Danny Fenton had appeared — alas looking worn and weathered.

Maybe his students knew about the assignment already. It wouldn’t surprise him if Paulina had told three quarters of the class, more than likely making a majority of the school jealous that they were doing an assignment on Amity’s hero.

The teacher turned, walking towards his desk and placed his books and notes on it. The students eyes followed him like hawks. Strange. He never caught the class’s attention.

“So today, students.” He began, switching a button as the projector flicked to life, “I wouldn’t be surprised if you knew already. There’s an assignment this week.”

Silence. Normally, a chorus of groaning would follow.

Well, there were three. Samantha Manson, Tucker Foley and Daniel Fenton. Clearly disheartened and peeved, but they wouldn’t show it. 

“And that assignment is on Phantom.” Lancer smiled, switching the presentation slide. “You need to find information about him. Facts. Not rumours or make believe. Then write an essay on the summary of information you’ve gathered. Groups of four or five, and the due date is next week.”

Instantly, the class perked up. Their eyes were needles of interest, and spurred mutters uttered from desk to desk. This would be a good assignment.

To his surprise, Sam Manson and Tucker Foley were quietly snickering, attempting to hide it in their sleeves, but failing. The third of the trio, Danny, groaned and faceplanted his desk. Edward swore he saw a flash of crimson on the boy’s shoulder as his head made contact with the desk.

_ And I told Dashiel that he could only be a part of the memorial club if he stopped the attitude.  _

That’s who he presumed had given Daniel the injuries, anyway. It couldn’t be anyone else. It seemed that Dash had Daniel as a token prize to bully.

“Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up guys. The irony of this situation is beautiful I’m sure.” Danny murmured, pressing a hand to his shoulder. No doubt it would hurt. Compared to Dash, Danny was a spelk. He would have to send the raven haired boy to the nurses office afterwards.

Although, what irony? Lancer was confused. Sam and Tucker either side of Danny were giving knowing glances, as if the three of them knew something Edward didn’t. It had been going on a while now, them three always being mysterious.

“How do we even get in contact with Phantom?” One girl, Ashley, put her hand up. Lancer tilted his head. She did bring a good point. 

“Online research is always best, and asking the sources of people in Amity Park, like the Fenton’s.” 

“Like I didn’t already do that.” Rosie muttered, swinging on a chair. That reminded him, the Memorial Club were exempt from the essay. It would be best to put them in a group together.

“You can all choose your own groups as you please, but there are some students I would like to put in a specific group. Dash, Paulina, Rosie and Adam.” James was not included in his English class, unfortunately. That meant an extra assignment for him.

The group all gave each other knowing looks. This was good. Although the specified group to the rest of the class was a little weird.

Meanwhile, Danny suppressed a hiss of pain as he sat in his chair, trying not to irritate the burn on his hip, or potentially mess up his shoulder even more. His parents' security systems sure were horrible. And that fight with Vlad.. that reminded him of the thermos, the cylindrical object containing Vlad stored in his locker.

And now, they were doing an assignment on his ghostly counterpart. Why? Just why? 

Sam and Tucker were laughing up the irony either side of him. Sure, it was ironic, but a slight flame of anxiety gnawed at his core. What if someone delved too deep? What if they found out his identity? 

Oh crud. This was certainly leading for trouble, wasn’t it?

Lifting up his head drearily, long since draining out Lancer’s boring speech, his eyes directed to four students at the front. Particularly Dash, Paulina, that girl who’d come to interview his parents yesterday, and the Adam guy.

The raven haired teen never would’ve thought he’d see them four look at eachother with  _ agreement _ , of all things. Dash was too proud to stick around nerds and losers, Paulina was too fancy and snobby, Adam was too timid to even try and be in the same room as them, and Rosie was too curious and talkative.

“We’ll be in a group, as usual?” Tucker grinned, facing his friend with a shit eating grin. On his left, Sam smirked.

“It might be the one assignment you ace. Find out information about Phantom, when you  _ are _ Phantom?”

Admittedly, Sam did have a point. His grades were in the toilet, and this was the one test he could provide more information about Phantom. If anyone asked why he knew so much? Just excuse it to his parents being ghost hunters. (In reality Danny’s parents knew almost nothing about his ghost half, but his class didn’t need to know that).

“True. And I can just put any extra knowledge to my parents. After all, they are the ghost hunters of Amity Park, so that’s always a good excuse.”

“Yea dude! And it’s not as if anyone in this class knows that your parents are really clueless about Phantom.” Tucker grinned broadly, “See? We got this in the bag! The perfect knowledge, the perfect excuses and the perfect group!” The teenager raised his fists up in the air happily, as Sam rolled her eyes, but an amused look shone on her face.

Danny nodded, this was working! Shifting in his chair, a zap of pain ran through his hip. Quickly, he clenched at the wound, wincing. 

“Danny? Was it that fight with Vlad?” Sam muttered under hushed breath, violet eyes darting to his hip. Tucker watched on, concern in his eyes. His friends knew he had a fight with Vlad, but he hadn’t told them about the injury, since the lesson was instantly after break. However, the wound wasn’t from Vlad. (Although maybe it was better letting them think that instead of the real fact that he got burned by his parents security system after the ghost shield had closed on him while he passed it, for his sanity and their worry).

“Uh. Yeah. Yeah.” Danny mumbled, lifting up the hem of his shirt. It had almost been twenty hours since the burn, and he knew it should not hurt as much as it did. Was it something to do with the shield and what was in it? Like, a spectre deflector electrocution? But it left burns instead? Was it because the shield closed on him as he passed through?

“We need to get you fixed up.” Sam muttered, “Before your parents see your injuries again.”

Oh yeah. His mom had seen the bruises on his neck the previous evening, hadn’t she? Just before Rosie had asked for an interview of the Fenton’s, and asked them about Phantom.

Danny froze.

His friends, noticing his sudden stiffness, gave him alarmed looks.

“Danny, what’s wrong?” Sam placed a hand on his shoulder — not the injured one.

“Heh.” He laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck, “So you remember our bulletproof excuse of ‘my parents are ghost hunters, so they’ll know all about Phantom’? — well, that girl over there, Rosie, she asked my parents for an interview last night, and they said they were just as clueless about Phantom as she was. And if we use the excuse, she’ll see right through us! You know how nosy she is… she’ll be onto us.. she’s already onto Phantom in some way.”

“Oh crud.” Sam groaned, “— so this girl is already onto your alter-ego? And then if she gets suspicious of your sources of knowledge, which she knows aren’t true, she’ll be onto Fenton too.”

“Yeah.” Danny sighed.

“Look on the bright side dude, at least we still have the perfect group!” Tucker exclaimed enthusiastically, wrapping an arm around Danny’s shoulder and leaning closer.

That was, until the sound of a metal chair being dragged across the floor.

“Any room for me? No one else I really want to group with here. And I know you guys have the knowledge.”

Danny looked up, heart in his throat.

There, Valerie Grey stood in front of the trio, hands gripping the chair. Sam and Tucker were equally as gobsmacked, eyes wide with trepidation.

Valerie raises an eyebrow at their shocked faces, sitting down in the chair she’d pulled up. “Cat gotcha tongue? You three look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Or a  _ ghost hunter _ … Danny thought under his breath, and swallowed. If his secret wasn’t in jeopardy before, it was now.

“Tucker, you cursed us.” Sam whisper hissed to the boy, eyes giving him a piercing sideways glance.

Good ghosts, this assignment would be the death of him.  _ Literally _ , if Valerie found out his identity. Why did Lancer have to make school even more of a hell for him? Now the whole class — specifically Rosie and Valerie — and his parents were one step closer to finding his secret.

Time to have a conversation with a certain teacher.

And not as Fenton, no, the teacher would surely ask why his wimpy, terrified of ghosts student was asking about a Phantom assignment. He was meant to pull away his connection with Phantom, not bring his identities closer together.

This one was on Phantom.

* * *

  
He decided to do it at lunch, that’d be easier. It was a free period, and it was the time that thankfully Lancer was free. Stretching, Danny quickly transformed into his ghost form, and hovered invisibly around the corridors.

Floating, he avoided using his leg too much, as his hip still twitched and seared in pain. It was less green now.. was that a good thing? Even in human form, the wound was green, flecks of red, but mostly green. On his shoulder another gash painted his skin, bruises splashing on his skin just on his neck and under his chin. That was red as usual.

Danny brought a gloved hand to his bruised neck, turning to examine it in a locker door reflection. Completely forgetting he was invisible.

“It’ll only be a minute.” The ghost muttered, dropping his invisibility and staring at his reflection in the scuffed locker. He was a mess. White hair, usually with a hazy shine, instead lay limp and drab above his brow, his skin had a weird milky tone, too pale, even for his ghost form. Green splattered the bottom of his chin and down the side of his neck, following to the shoulder wound where his suit was still slightly torn. 

“Looks like Vlad took a number on me.” He muttered, pulling one of his eyelids down. He hoped he didn’t have a concussion, “If it’s this bad in ghost form, how did Lancer not even notice it in human form?”

But, Lancer had noticed, and Mr Fenton’s injuries were the one on his mind as he travelled down the corridor from his classroom. How his student had gotten such injuries, he’d never know. Not easily anyway. How he wished that the resolution about Danny Fenton would just stare him in the face-

He paused. Blinked once. Twice.

“ _ Gullivers Travels!  _ Phantom, what are you doing here?” The teacher almost collapsed in shock as he approached the unaware ghost — who was apparently looking at his reflection in a worn out locker.

“Uh? Wha—!” Phantom turned his head, jolting in shock, stumbled, and steadied himself. Awfully clumsy compared to usual, Edward queried. 

“Well—“ Phantom trailed off, folding his arms awkwardly, holding the left one carefully. It was then that Lancer realised how small Phantom was. He wasn’t even near Edward’s height — then again, Phantom was always floating. Now he was standing.

“I actually wanted to talk to you.” The ghost pressed, moving his hands to his sides.

Wait, what? What did the protector of Amity Park want to do with him? Did he want to be tutored or something? It wasn’t like Phantom was one of his students, he’d seen the possible death records that morning.

“Why?” He asked.

“Just, why did you assign your class an assignment on me? I just, it doesn’t really make sense. And there’s some stuff—“ Phantom turned his head to the side, gulping, “—that I’d rather keep secret.”

“Well—“ the teacher paused. He couldn’t exactly feel the hero about the memorial, “—you’re the hero of Amity Park! I know my class admire you, so I decided to give them a fun assignment instead. I promise if there is any information found out, it won’t leave my classroom.”

It was a shoddy excuse, and the promise was just begging for worse, but it’d have to do.

Phantom gave a short laugh, dreary but genuine at the same time. “Hero. Heh — I think your class might be some of my most adamant supporters.”

The spectre went to rub a hand through his hair, but winced as it jolted his shoulder. This didn’t go unnoticed by Mr Lancer, who gazed with concern. They were the same injuries from before.

“Are you okay? Do I need to get the first aid kit?” He asked, worry filled his voice. Every time Phantom fought, he’d get injured, and it was clear it was painful.

“Nah, nah.” Phantom shook his head, brushing the teacher off. “I’ve got accelerated healing. It’ll be fine in a couple hours.”

The injury on Phantom’s hip looked exactly the same as it had that morning, but he kept his lips shut.

“Never thought I’d see the day where people were making assignments on me in school. Then again, I never thought I’d see the day where I was a ghost.” Phantom chuckled, eyes gazing down the corridor, “The irony is something though. Either that, or I’m just seriously cursed.”

Oh.  Now this was something. The comment about irony made him think back to Danny Fenton’s remark about the “beautiful irony” of the assignment. Here, it was the same, feelings and all, cluelessness and confusion.

And that about never seeing the day about being a ghost? Certainly ominous, and obviously referring to his death. An accident? 

Lancer would question more, but he doubted Phantom wanted to be reminded of his death.

“Well, it was a fun assignment for the students.” He shrugged back, letting a small chuckle. His students deserved a break after all the English Poetry topics.

“Yeah right.” Phantom rolled his eyes playfully and folded his arms. He stepped into the air, beginning to hover, “Assignments are never fun, unless you’re my sister I suppose. She’s presumptuous, but I love her — then she got even worse after finding out I was like this..” Phantom dwelled, green eyes fading into the distance as if he was reflecting on something.

Phantom had a sister? He was still in contact with her? She only got worse after finding out..

Lancer paused.

_ After finding out her brother was dead and a ghost; that’s what. _

“Your sister  _ found out?  _ You mean that your family don’t know you’re dead, or either don’t know you’re Phantom.”

As if a light had been switched, Phantom immediately came out of his trance, shaking his head wildly.

“No-no— I didn’t mean that, just — forget that! I said nothing.” The ghost shook his head, Edward could see his shoulders shaking frantically. _Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_ ,  he’d sent a ghost into a frenzy.

“Phantom. I’m a teacher, we’re not idiots, despite what your young teenage mind may think.”

“Hey! You don’t even know how old I am!” The ghost protested, and Edward bit his lip. He wasn’t about to admit that actually, he knew the ghosts birth year and death day — the same age as his students.

“Maybe not. But I know that you’re a teenager based on your appearance, and nor do your past family know you’re dead, or don’t know that you’re a ghost.”

“Okay. Fine.” The white haired boy mumbled, looking at his feet, “My family don’t know that I’m dead, what happened was an accident, and they certainly don’t know that I’m Phantom.”

Finally, a confirmed answer off the ghost. Although this didn’t make Edward any happier. This ghost had parents who didn’t know their own son was dead, a fourteen year old at that. No matter how independent, should still be under parents supervision. Did they think he’d run away? Or maybe Phantom actually had run away. It was just another stubborn piece in an unmatching jigsaw puzzle. Mystery after mystery.

“Okay. Would you ever tell them?” Lancer pondered, and Phantom’s eyes blazed a harsher green. That was a no.

“No. Since you seem so insistent on learning about my past life, why don’t I tell you how I died too? I bet that was on your mind before.” Phantom sneered.

The hairs on the back of his neck prickled as Lancer took a step back. Phantom wasn’t violent, but he’d never seen him have an — outburst like this. A twinge of shame filled him, because yes, he had been thinking about how Phantom died. He’d been thinking about it a lot.

“My apologies.” Lancer nodded his head, “I didn’t mean to come off as disrespectful, and I understand that the topics of your past life are probably sensitive.”

“Not your fault.” Phantom murmured, seemingly ashamed, “It’s my stupid obsession— wanna protect my family, y’know? People not knowing about them means they don’t get hurt. Means they don’t get hurt if they don’t know about me.”

“If you really wanna know — I can see you do. Everyone does, usually.” Phantom shrugged.

“It was electrocution. I don’t really remember — suppose that’s a good thing — but everything was green and flashing and then pain and then I was a ghost.”

The ghost almost stumbled over his words, but Lancer couldn’t blame him. He probably wanted to get the topic over with as soon as possible.

“Uh, what time is it?” Phantom swing his legs. “We’ve been talking a while, and I need to be somewhere.”

He wondered where the somewhere was, and looked at his watch. “It’s just turned 13:45. I’m pretty sure the last lesson started about 35 minutes ago. Luckily I don’t have any lesson last two periods.”

Phantom’s face went paler than physically possible for a ghost.

“Oh crud. I’m so screwed.” The boy winced, pressing a hand to his face. He was thirty five minutes late to lessons! What was he thinking? Sam and Tucker were probably wondering where he was.

“I better go.” Danny gave a wave and poofed out of existence, before his teacher could even respond.

Danny raced invisibly through the corridors, thoughts rushing in his head. He was injured, he could use that as an excuse to be at the nurses office the whole time. But then the nurse might call his parents and he did not need their suspicions right now. 

That was another to the list. Rosie, Valerie, the whole class, his parents and now Lancer close to finding out his secret.

The teen sighed, floating up and out onto the roof of the school. Everything hurt. He didn’t want to sit in a class for another two hours. The nurses office wasn’t an option.

So where else was there a first aid kit prepared for a small army? He’d forgotten his first aid kit for school, and there was no gauze in Tucker’s or Sam’s. Danny had used them up on Tuesday. It needed restocking, and was waiting on his cabinet in his bedroom patiently to be packed up.

That was it! His bedroom!

He flew so quickly that he was a blur of black and white. Seeing the house, Danny turned intangible and invisible, praying his parents wouldn’t catch sight of him. The ghost shield didn’t didn’t seem to be on either, so that was a bonus.

He braced as he approached the wall where his bedroom was, hoping that the shield wouldn’t switch on while he passed through, like it had last time.

Thankfully, it didn’t, and Danny breathed a sigh of relief, hovering into his bedroom and turning into his human form. He’d been flying for so long that he’d completely forgotten about his hip, plus flying distracted his thoughts. 

Instantly, his legs buckled weakly, and Danny tried not to cry out in protest as an agonising twinge went through his hip, and a loud thump sounded as he fell to the floor. Putting a hand on his wound, his fingers were saturated almost instantly. He tried not to blanch as he brought a hand back to his face, streaked with red and green. No doubt it was dripping on the carpet.

Now where was the gauze? From where he was lying, he couldn’t see it on his cabinet. Dotted red and green followed him as he stumbled a little to the wall, pressing his palms to it.

A bloody handprint streaked the wall, but right now Danny didn’t care. His emergency stash was meant for the direst situations, life threatening, but there was no gauze so this was the last resort.

Allowing his hand (the non greeny-bloody one) to go intangible, he rustled around the stash blindly, focusing on watching the blood dribble on his hand and abdomen.

“Of course there’d be none on the cabinet.” Danny sighed, then smirked when his hand hit a plastic packet.  _Bingo_.

His enhanced hearing picked up footsteps, but it was probably just his parents in the lab downstairs. It was alright. A chill filled the air, and Danny shivered. It’d been a while since he’d used his ice powers, and naturally his body was pretty chilly anyway.

“Better get this cleaned up, afterwards.” Danny turned, glancing at the red droplets on the carpet, “Can’t have mom and dad seeing this.”

“Can’t have us seeing what?”

Suddenly, Maddie and Jack marched around the corner, their eyes wide with determination.

“I —“ Danny paused, eyeing his parents with gaping eyes, heart rate increasing by the second. His bloodied hand instantly went to his shirt where he pulled down the hem, cringing as wet blood soaked through his shirt in seconds.

His parents still stared.

“I’m fine, don’t worry.” Danny smiled, then went to stand up—

And fell back again. 

What? What was holding him back? Tugging his arm, Danny glanced to the offending appendage, wondering what the problem was—

His arm was stuck in the wall. 

His parents stared.

Danny stared at his arm. He turned back.

Smiling sheepishly he grinned, rubbing the back of his neck with his bloodied hand, thus exposing the blooming crimson and emerald on his abdomen.

_Shit_.

Maddie and Jack gaped. Gobsmacked. 

Danny turned to face them, waving with his bloodied hand.

“Heh. Guess I’ve got some explaining to do, don’t I?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ending on a cliffhanger! I honestly was incredibly excited to write the last scene, I imagine Danny blankly staring at his parents with his hand in the wall and they’re just like “wtf...”
> 
> And so Valerie makes an appearance, meaning possible conflict for our poor Danny. It seems everyone’s onto him at once, Lancer, his parents, the club, now the class. 
> 
> It’s 1am as I publish this, so there may be spelling mistakes. I’ll go and edit it over in the morning.
> 
> Edit: I honestly forgot to mention (don’t know how), but 1400 hits??!! Thank you all so much!! It’s the first fic of mine to hit over 1000, so it’s all a bit surreal tbh.


	5. Two Sided Apprehension (But Still I Do Nothing)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _  
> "Won’t you break the silence?”_
> 
> _  
> "Burning in the words you left unsaid.  
>  Just say something,  
>  Break the silence." _
> 
> Break The Silence - True Tides

Maddie couldn’t even begin to comprehend the situation in front of her. They’d know there was something unconventional about Danny’s recent behaviour — which she’d skewered up to the fault of the portal accident.

Her and Jack were in the kitchen, considering ways to question Danny, when there had been an almighty thump upstairs, midday of all times, and they were the only two in the house.

And now, well Maddie didn’t know what to think. Words caught in her throat, nothing intelligible but a choke of shock, leaving her utterly tongue tied.

Danny’s hand was stuck _in_ the wall. And by the looks of it, he knew it too, from the awkward stumble he took back to the wall as his arm refused to budge.

She was too focused on his arm to even notice the ruddy green that soused down his ratty t-shirt, and the hand that pressed limply towards it, fingers also dabbled with blood.

Quaking, Maddie turned to her husband, who was hauntingly quiet, his navy eyes caught on Danny, in particular to the wall.

It was the portal accident. It had to be. The same vibrant colour of the green and red that decorated his shirt. Something had happened, and it was much more than just an ecto contamination — that feeble excuse had been used by Danny many times.

That “minor” electrocution, probably wasn’t so minor, she concluded with unspoken horror.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Maddie managed to speak, although the words gritted out, mostly of shock and disbelief.

“W-what? How did this happen?” 

Shaking, Danny met his blue eyes with Maddie’s. Terror struck upon his face.

“The injuries?” Danny questioned, then looked down towards his hip where his hand rested. He paled. How had his parents not shrieked in worry yet? 

“I- uh, I.. I don’t know.” Danny mumbled, his voice trailing off coarsely. There was no lie that would fix this, but he wasn’t going to leap to the truth either.

“Danno, you don’t just get injuries out of nowhere and not know where they came from. Not that bad.” His dad finally spoke, jolted out of shock. He gestured a large hand to the blotch of blood.

The teen sighed. He had been hoping, by narrow margins that his parents would remain oblivious to the injuries and just _continued living their life as if everything was fine._

“We can’t just continue living our life as if nothing is wrong. We can’t ignore this!” His mom spoke, a bitter tone to her voice.

But, what? Danny gawked up at his parents, jaw dropping in confusion. He’d said the last part out loud...oh Infinite Realms. His parents' faces were downcast now, and his Mom’s face was angry, but more of a heartbroken anger.

“There've been enough times of us being out of sync with everything, son. And because of that, we didn’t even notice what you were going through.” Jack mumbled as Danny shifted uncomfortably on the floor.

“It’s not your fault.” The halfa shook his head, taking to glancing at the blue shag carpet instead of making eye contact.

“But how can it not be?! We’ve done something — you want us to go living back to normal — there’s something going on.”

“It’s fine. Just leave it.” He muttered back. Time to go back to the deflection tactics. 

“We’re not leaving until you tell us what is wrong.” Maddie commanded, her voice stern. She wasn’t falling for this, not again. Her son already thought they were oblivious enough. And now they would start paying attention.

“I don’t want to talk about it. Nothing is wrong with me.”

“And you’re not bleeding on the carpet right now.” Jack remarked, kneeling down on the carpet as he examined the droplets on the floor, “That looks painful. Do you need help?”

“It’s fine. I can manage.” Quick as a flash, he turned his hand intangible, passing it through the wall with the gauze packet as his parents watched, jaws dropped.

“Intangibility, it, it was worse than what you said.” Maddie stuttered as she gasped at his arm.

“What was?” Danny braced himself, wrapping the gauze on his wound. She’d identified his ghost powers in almost an instant, and now one of his past excuses was catching up.

“It was the portal accident. Wasn’t it?” Maddie’s voice went quiet, and Jack rubbed his hand through Danny’s hair reassuringly. Danny froze underneath the touch.

No. Not the portal accident. No. He was not being questioned about his death for a second time; and this was not something he wanted to talk about his parents. The guilt would kill them. They shouldn’t feel guilty for something that was his stupid fault. Anxiety crept up in his heart, they were close to finding his secret.

“What about the portal accident?” He tried to play it off casually, to no avail.

“We know the portal did something to you.” Maddie said plainly. Danny felt his heart tighten in his chest, he was treading on thin ice. His life depended on it.

Because they could react either way. And he didn’t want to risk the rejection, or the likely experimentation that would come after. Danny found himself blubbering incoherently as he shook his head, trying to scrape up the remaining tatters of his secret.

“-No, no it didn’t. What are you talking about? You’ll not get me. You can’t capture me. I won’t let you experiment on me. I won’t let you-“

“Daniel James Fenton! I could give less of a damn about what that portal did to you because you should know by now that no matter what I will always love you, no matter what or who you are. We’d never ever even think of experimenting or capturing you.” Maddie erupted, practically leaping across the room to sweep her son into an embrace.

God, her son had been plagued by so much — and to think he thought they would experiment on him? No wonder he was trying to deny everything.

“You- you really mean that?” Her son asked in a small voice. Maddie swore his eyes were leaking tears. He turned and blinked at her owlishly, and looked up to Jack.

Both gave a confirming nod.

“We love you Danno, whether you’re...whatever you are.”

They really meant it? Danny wiped an eye with his (non bloody) hand, breathing heavily. They’d accept him no matter what he was.. but that didn’t include Phantom. Probably not.

There was a weight lifted off his chest at his parents reassurance..maybe telling the truth wouldn’t be bad? Not all of it, he didn’t want to overwhelm them (nor was he ready to say everything), but it would be an improvement to constantly deflecting everything.

“I- there’s some stuff I’m not ready to tell yet.” Danny uttered, thinking about his Phantom identity. At least he could tell them how much truth he was going to say.

“Of course sweetie. One step at a time.” Maddie smiled reassuringly, threading her hands through his hair, to which he responded positively. Jack also pulled gently at some of the tufts.

“So, the portal accident. Which I’m guessing from before, you already know.” Both his parents nodded, “And I said it was just a little shock, it wasn’t. I was _inside_ the portal when it happened. It opened on me or something, I don’t know. It.. it made me half ghost.” Danny explained, bracing at the last sentence.

“Like half-ghost, half-human?” His mom asked, and he nodded.

“Exactly that.” Danny nodded, a small smile on his features, “My DNA got merged with ectoplasm, from which I got one of the best things that happened to me. Even if it does have some consequences to it.”

“I’m guessing said consequences have something to do with why you have all this.” Maddie lifted a finger and gestured to the burn, “Although I’m surprised that you’re not in more pain, considering that it does look quite bad.”

“Quick healing factor. Ectoplasm means I heal really fast. Definitely useful.” He took a look at the wound, now wrapped with the gauze. No red or green was seeping through, which was good, “And it makes my blood red and green. It looks kinda cool.”

“I was wondering why it looked like jello.” Jack remarked, rubbing his fingers against the wool.

“So? What’s this mysterious best thing that happened to you?” Maddie egged on, nudging his shoulder encouragingly. She looked, happy, and actually curious. So did his dad.

“Well I, uh don’t know if it's cool to you considering you’re ghost hunters, and I was terrified at first.” Danny shrugged, then held a hand out, palm facing the ceiling.

“Your - palm?” Jack questioned, looking at Danny as if he were ridiculous, “Is this some sort of palm reading shindig? Do you have a wacky future or something?”

Danny laughed lightheartedly, shaking his head. Focusing his powers, Danny felt the ecto energy flood through him as his hand lit up a burst of neon green.

“Suffering spooks!” Jack recoiled in shock.

“Ghost powers!” Maddie exclaimed, awe clear in her voice. At her curiosity, Danny wavered, would she want to experiment to find out how his powers worked? He needn’t have worried though, as his mom settled back down.

“Danny, that’s incredible. What else can you do?”

“I can fly, you already know about the intangibility, invisibility and I can shoot ectoblasts. The first month or so I used to accidentally turn everything intangible. School was awful. There was once where I accidentally turned a sink intangible.”

“I can’t imagine what that was like. And speaking of school, why aren’t you there young man? It’s 14:30!”

“I needed to come here for first aid supplies. I couldn’t exactly go to the nurse. I’m sorry I skipped again.” Danny frowned. He’d genuinely forgotten about school during the conversation with his parents. And now the school would probably be preparing millions of detentions with his name on. Oh crud.

“Oh sweetie. It’s not your fault. How did you even get these injuries?” Maddie gestured to the gauze pad.

Hesitantly, Danny pulled himself up so he was leaning against the wall instead of awkwardly sprawled onto the floor.

“Well the shoulder and neck are from a ghost who fought with me. The burn is from the security systems.”

“What — a ghost fought you?” Jack looked bemused, although pride shone in his eyes. “So you’ve been fighting ghosts?”

“Yup. You know that vampire ghost, the ones with the horns and the red eyes?”

“The Wisconsin ghost?” Maddie titled her head and shivered in disgust, that ghost was obsessed with her.

Danny could hardly hold back a snicker at the ridiculous name, “He’s called Plasmius, but it’s pretty hilarious when you call him The Wisconsin Ghost. We were fighting this morning, he wanted the typical ‘adopt me to become his son and evil apprentice’ type thing.”

“That ghost is a level six, Danny! Do you know how dangerous that is?!” His mom looked terrified. A ghost wanted to adopt him to become evil — what? Her fourteen year old son was fighting ghosts himself, some of which even her _and_ Jack couldn’t defeat.

“And I’m a level 7.2, it’s fine.” Danny shrugged casually.

Jack whistled, impressed. “A level 7.2! You’ve got some power on you son! AndI bet you’re showing them ghosts who’s boss, right?”

“Sure am dad.” Danny smiled lopsidedly as Jack ruffled his hair affectionately. Jack stretched upwards, balancing a hand against the wall, offering a hand to Danny to help him up in his injured state.

“We shouldn’t be sitting on the carpet in your state. Maybe we should find somewhere more comfy to talk about this more.” The large man announced, eyes grazing around the room trying to find something suitable for his injured son to sit on.

“Here.” His eyes caught the bed as he gently picked up Danny and dropped him on the soft mattress. “That better?”

Danny, in the middle of examining his burnt hip, looked up and nodded. “Yup. Although I could’ve just flown or gone intangible.”

His dad’s eyes sparked, engrossed in every word that came out of Danny’s mouth. Probably still astounded by the power that his son held, or that Danny was fighting ghosts. Either one.

“Danny—” He froze. His mom trailed across the room, approaching him, now stood up from the wall. Her eyes were misty with guilt and regret, arms wrapped tightly around her chest. “I’m so sorry, honey.” Her arms slunk around his thin frame as she embraced him for the second time that night, but Danny was utterly confused.

“What— for?” He asks tentatively. His mom pulled back. Her eyes were damp with tears.

“We’re bad parents, aren’t we? We failed you for so long, didn’t see you getting injured or even notice how bad the portal accident was. I should’ve pushed further but I thought it was just normal teenager stuff, so I didn’t do anything. I figured you’d come to us in your own time, but you never did.” Maddie sniffled as Danny’s heart sunk with realisation. 

This was the one reason he didn’t tell them — he didn’t want them to feel guilty, and now his mom was a mess. What could he do?

“Mom, it’s not your fault.” Plainly he spoke, pushing his knees to his chest and blowing a bang of hair out of his field of vision.” You gave me space to come forward in my own time, and I appreciate that. Even if I didn’t come forward, you still gave me the chance to talk. Mom, don’t feel guilty. Please?”

Maddie didn’t respond, only looked sullen at him. He hadn’t convinced her one bit.

“Maybe, we should have some space.” Danny rubbed the back of his neck, looking at his mom and dad hesitantly, “It’s been a busy day, and you two have a lot to process. I also need to get used to the fact that you now know my secret.” 

“Okay sweetie.” A small smile pressed on Maddie’s lips, “And come down for dinner tonight, right?”

Danny smiled back. “Sure.”

“We love you, son.” 

He watched as his parents trundled out the room, but giving each other stares of exasperation. Sharp blue eyes focused on them and a smile remained on his face until they shut the door.

Relief painted on his features, Danny let himself sink into the blue abyss of his bed. His eyes wandered to the unfinished papers and assignments scattered on his desk, all incomplete and overdue. A bell rang in his head.

_The assignment!_

He winced. None of this was good. Firstly, Valerie of all people was in their group. It had been fine with him, Tucker and Sam — too good to be true, he thought back now. An easy assignment brushed over with basic knowledge of ghosts and Phantom. Maybe less knowledge than of what was expected from the son of ghost hunters, but with the type of student Danny was, they’d just put it down to laziness.

Not him trying to hide a secret that could put his life at risk — nope, not at all.

Valerie, to put it simply, hated Phantom. Would find pleasure in obliterating his ghost form’s existence, eradicate the evil ghost that ruined her life. And if she knew, then what?

She was smart, and sharp. She’d figure them out almost instantly — especially since him, Sam and Tucker were supporters of Phantom. Ashamedly, Sam and Tucker had also been caught by the press around his ghost form, so Valerie knew they were associated — even if she didn’t expect him to know much (who was he convincing, of course Valerie would expect him to know things), she’d know Tucker and Sam would know things, have knowledge that others wouldn’t. Maybe that’s why Valerie had chosen to be in their group? To find out more about his ghost form?

Maybe this assignment had benefitted Valerie. Because in every way it was destroying him. There were what — thirty odd students and a teacher on his tail, along with his parents and Valerie. Too many people at once. Way too many.

“Find out knowledge about Phantom” — what sort of assignment was that even anyway? Lancer never assigned anything just for fun. The teacher had been lying, the way he glazed over with smooth excuses, yet there still was a jitter in his voice, a quick coverup of an obvious lie. Danny knew a liar when he saw one, the last year of his life was living a lie. Call him a specified genius in the lying department, if you will.

He couldn’t just flunk the assignment, that was stupid. Especially when it was such easy marks, and they’d be expecting at least _something_ from the youngest Fenton. But being too informative could really lead to trouble — Rosie on his trail of knowledge that his parents didn’t have, the kid who was allegedly terrified of ghosts being so informative. 

Grumbling, the teen let his legs swing over the side of the bed, swinging haplessly. What Lancer had said was a blatant lie — and there was a reason behind it — not just the lame excuse for fun — but someone wanted knowledge about him. And he didn’t know who, or why, or how much they even knew.

“This whole thing is just a mess. Why would Lancer make excuses up? And he was acting so weird, assigning that specific group of people who would just never work together. You could say it was for them to get along, but there was something — the way they looked at each other.” Resting his chin on his hand, cheek squished, Danny sighed heavily.

Confusion tangled heavily within him, thick and coiled and dark, twinged with edges of peppery anxiety that flaked every few seconds he considered the situation more. His head thrummed in a dull pain as he squeezed his hard further into his cheek. None of this made sense. But really, had anything ever since the portal accident?

What was it with people and weak excuses? He couldn’t figure their motives, of why they’d want this knowledge. Valerie’s was clear enough — she was a ghost hunter — she’d scour through information for dirt on her arch enemy. Rosie, also an enigma. Waltzing through their door, claiming that she wanted to interview her parents because she wanted to “learn about ghosts but especially Phantom.” 

But there had been no reason as to _why_ she wanted to learn about Phantom — the excuse she’d given his parents was that she wanted to learn about ghosts. But why did she want to learn about ghosts? Why now? And more specifically, why _him_?

Same went for Lancer, the English teacher had never even shown remote interest in ghosts, and now here he was, setting assignments with lame excuses and putting people in specific groups. Even if the group assigned had been in that weird mystery club together—

His heart froze.

It was just an inkling, a little urge of a feeling, he could be jumping to conclusions, but something made him certain. The weird mystery club, the second oddest thing to come out of Caspar High after the enigma that was himself — no one knew anything about it, how it had started or what it was about.

It was about him. It had to be. Rosie coming looking for information from his parents one day (specifically about his ghost form), then Lancer assigning a project to find information about him the next? It couldn’t just be a coincidence that he’d assigned the same people in the weird club in a group together.

He didn’t know why (still), and didn’t know what, but there was a strange concrete certainty that told Danny the group was about him. Why they wanted the information he’d never know (hopefully he’d find out), but that put him at a risk, and a great danger of his secret being revealed.

His eyes blazed green. He needed to put a stop to this.

He only prayed he wouldn’t be too late, that they hadn’t found anything of major significance.

* * *

**Caspar High Library, Thursday, 4pm**

“So, the point we were up to at lunch, right?” James questioned across the library as he scrambled to a computer, typing login details faster than Adam could blink.

“I’m pretty sure, yeah.” Adam shrugged, turning to observe the library. It was almost unoccupied, except for a few students revising hurriedly for assignments and rapidly completing homework. Him and James were early — so early that even Mr Lancer hadn’t shown up yet.

  
“We’re so early.” Adam remarked under his breath. James had practically dragged him out last period to rush to the library.

Coincidentally so to speak, Mr Lancer stormed through the door, Rosie and Dash following him, their eyes wide and startled. The English teacher looked furious, and understandably so. Danny Fenton had done a runner in fourth lesson, and never showed back up. Even if the boy usually did run, he didn’t just completely disappear.

“This better be worth something.” Dash Baxter slipped next to Adam, towering over him by at least a foot. Adam tried not to tremble. Even if Lancer had told Dash not to bully anyone, it didn’t stop the jock from seething glares at him when the teacher wasn’t looking. One of those times was now.

“All this work can’t just go to waste.” Rosie murmured as she dropped her notepad on the desk, “There were three, wasn’t there? I forgot their last names.”

“Yup. Daniel Jay, Waters and Trotter.” James nodded in response, turning to Rosie then back to his screen. Adam blinked. How had he gotten on the computer so quickly?

“This is kinda depressing. I mean — he was just a normal kid at one point, y’know? Like us.” Rosie stated, then quieted. 

The room was filled with the same solemn silence earlier that day, and Adam felt his chest clench in grief. They were feeling anguish for someone they didn’t know — yet at the same time, it felt like they did. These records were just the tip of the iceberg, just the small barely dented surface of the past life of Phantom. 

He noted that Mr Lancer looked especially grievous. 

And then there was Dash. Arms folded, looking ahead, refusing to meet eye contact with anyone, strangely quiet, with a peeved look on his face.

“I don’t see why you’re all getting depressed over it. Of course he’s dead, he’s a _ghost_. He’s strong and he’s tough — nothing can affect him.” Dash partially sneered, his shoulders shrugged in what Adam identified as anger. 

No one responded to Dash’s remark — no one could. Adam felt his own anger bubble, in grief for Phantom’s lost life, for his own guilt at what felt like such a breach of the ghost’s privacy; this way the way Phantom had died, the end of his life. Fourteen, only his age. Bile rose in his throat.

And there was Dash — who did he think he was? Maybe no one responded because they were in disbelief. Adam knew he certainly was.

The blind disregard and unscrupulous dismissal that Dash had towards Phantom’s death was far outshone by the blatant idolisation of the hero he had for him. Yes, Adam could agree that Phantom was a hero — but he wasn’t invincible. Dash was so indifferent and so insistent to put Phantom on a pedestal that he didn’t even see the reality of the situation. Fourteen year old, their age had died? It didn’t matter, Phantom surely wasn’t affected by that, because he was strong and invincible.

The dark blue eyed boy prevented himself from spitting a remark as the rest of his classmates collected themselves, Lancer placing a hand on his head.

“I spoke to Phantom this afternoon.” The teacher spoke, briskly and monotone, and Adam swore his eyes were damp in a certain light. He’d spoken to Phantom? How? What did they talk about? He couldn’t help but think something important was about to be spoken, alas depressing.

“What did he say?” Rosie tilted her head curiously, and James peered over his shoulder, eyes hovering over the three possible records on the screen.

“And will it help us identify which one of these is Phantom? If any of them are Phantom, that is.” James questioned.

“Yeah! I wanna know what you talked about. It must be super awesome being able to talk face to face to Phantom.” Dash remarked, his face sunnily contrasting to the rest of the room.

“It was at lunch that I saw him, I asked about his death and he got very agitated, although I couldn’t blame him. He admitted that all his family except his sister didn’t know he’s dead. How they don’t know — I don’t know. He didn’t like talking about it.”

“Phantom had a sister?” Adam spoke aloud in his surprise, well he was probably still in contact with her. “And his family didn’t know? How does he even have a death record then?”

“That’s even if one of these is actually his death record.” James gestured to the screen, then went wide eyed. “He might not even have a death record if his family didn’t know.”

“But his sister knew — so surely there’s some validation there?” Beside James, Rosie splayed her hands wildly, her eyes frantic with worry. They hadn’t come this far just to get to a dead end, had they?

“What? As if she submitted the record or something?” James tilted an eyebrow, then looked back at the screen, “Mr Lancer, did you manage to get Phantom’s cause of death, or did he not say?”

Adam could feel his heart clench again. If before had been bad just even seeing the three records (with no validation that it was even Phantom), a cause of death spoken from the ghost himself was sure to send them reeling.

“He said it was electrocution.” The bald teacher looked down at the floor, refusing to make eye contact, “It must’ve been painful, if it had been enough electricity to kill him.”

“Yeah, but he got right back up, didn’t he?” Dash piped up beside Adam.

He clenched his fists into his sides. This was beginning to get infuriating.

“How would you even know that? I’m pretty sure if I died and woke up a ghost after being a human for fourteen years I’d be pretty terrified.” Adam counteracted, kneading his fists together, trying to calm himself.

“You’re a wimp, you’re always terrified.” Dash rolled his eyes.

“And what does that even have to do with anything? We’re talking about Phantom’s death here, the least you could have is some common decency.”

Threateningly, Dash brought a clenched fist up to Adam’s face as soon as he finished speaking. Almost flinching, Adam pressed himself against the wall. Maybe it hadn’t been the best idea to talk back to one of the strongest jocks in the school, all his past anger at Dash instantly dissipating like steam.

“You think you can talk back to me?” Dash tilted his head, almost mocking, as he stood over at least a foot taller than Adam, back arched, holding a fist threateningly to his face.

‘Uh..” Adam trailed backwards, sidling nearer James and Rosie.

“Boys! Behave yourselves! Mr Baxter, you know that your attitude has to remain positive to stay in this club — if not you will be dismissed.” Lancer spoke commandingly, and Rosie and James turned to see what was going on. “Adam, please do not provoke Mr Baxter, it’ll do good for neither of you.”

“Fine.” To Lancer, Dash slumped down the walls, seemingly in defeat. Satisfied, the teacher nodded, turning away to look at the computer screen. 

“Fenturd did a runner for the fifteenth time in a week, so I guess you’re the one left to beat up. But thanks to you and this stupid deal with Lancer, I can’t get my hands on you otherwise I’ll be gone outta this club!” Dash briskly turned to Adam, hissing, glaring sharply. 

Adam hadn’t said anything — he would never find the courage to do that because he’d be hunted for weeks — rather Lancer had seen Dash stuffing him into a locker and actually taken action for once, to his delight and dismay.

“You’re a nobody who helps nobody. Why’re you even here? I don’t see you contributing anything.”

As much as he hated to admit it, Dash was right. He’d only really been looped into it because James had insisted, James was his only friend, and he didn’t fancy sitting by himself at lunch every afternoon, or having to walk home by himself, either. Flushing, Adam looked to the floor, examining his shoes. Why was he here? He’d contributed nothing, at least Dash had provided some optimism and eternal support to Phantom (as annoying as he found it). He himself just sat and loitered because he didn’t want to be lonely.

Ghosts weren’t even a topic he was really knowledgeable on, anyway. He knew they floated around and caused damage, that Phantom was their protector, but that was it. Heck, he didn’t even know the ghost’s first name was Danny until the first club meeting.

Surely there was something he could do? Rather than sit and be useless. Dash was still glaring fires into him as he thought. There had to be something that he’d gain recognition for, instead of called a useless nobody. Heck, it didn’t even have to be in the club, just _something_ that would stop Dash from announcing the lack of contribution, that he was already very aware of. Something that would surely pitch Dash’s interest and at least get him off his back for a while.

If Danny Fenton had just shown up, then none of this would be happening.

_And he’s the walking mystery of Caspar High, no one knows where he goes or how he ends up injured! Maybe if I found out what, then Dash would stop pestering me and focus on Fenton instead._

There was a tiny smidgen that told him to go ahead, but no. He internally shook his head. He couldn’t just throw Danny Fenton under the bus like that, especially when he got worse torment off Dash than Adam did.

_Although I genuinely do wonder where he goes, I mean he was missing for the last two lessons, that’s not exactly a bathroom break._

His thoughts were shattered by a startled yell off Lancer, who was rambling incoherently and pointing at the screen. James was wide eyed, eyes plastered to the screen, as if he looked away the information would be gone forever, and Rosie was leant behind him, a hand clenched in her mousy hair.

“That’s — that’s him!” Lancer spluttered, jaw dropped, as Adam quickly paced over. What had they found? Dash strode behind.

“We were just beginning to lose hope, and it’s the last record of the three.” James peered forward, taking a further look at the screen, “Daniel Jay. Born July 1990 and died August 2004. Died of electrocution in a lab accident.”

“It all fits in.” Rosie mumbled, strangely quiet.

It did all fit in, 1990 and 2004, and the cause of death being electrocution. The lab accident part was new, but Phantom wore a HAZMAT suit, did he not? 

“Awesome! We found him, now the memorial can all be finished and Paulina can add her flowers and decorations.” To his right, Dash whooped, throwing his hands in the air.

“Where’s Paulina?” He mumbled aloud at the mention of the other club member. She wasn’t here, which he’d only just noticed.

“She went off to the Nasty Burger with Star and Kwan and the rest. Needed a break from spending all school afternoons here. Since we were already pretty close — and we’ve found the records now — she went down to the florists to check out what flowers we’ll put around the memorial.” Dash shrugged, then realised he was talking to Adam, and scowled.”Why would you want to know, anyway?”

“I dunno. You mentioned her and I realised she wasn’t here.” Adam shrugged.

“That’s it. All of the information is here, even specific dates.’ Rosie glanced at the records, “It’s done. We’ve got it. Maybe you should give Paulina a call, Dash and tell her to book some flowers.”

“Already on it.” Dash took his phone and trailed to the other end of the room, texting the fellow A-Lister.

“I’m glad we’ve found it. It feels good, y’know, to have confirmation?” James pushed back in his chair, arms folded as he gave a small smile to the screen, “We’ve made it. And Phantom can get the respect he deserves, cuz if his family doesn’t know, I doubt he got a grave.”

“I’m glad Mr Phantom can have a send off now. Although it is, awfully distressing to think of a life so young, ending like that.” Lancer rubbed his chin, “I’ll have another talk with the council. Hopefully we can get the plaque carved and up as early as Saturday, and if we get a confirmed date then I’ll inform Phantom about it on the day that it goes on.”

Adam’s brows furrowed. He couldn’t help but think there was more. This couldn’t just be it, could it? Or was he overthinking things? He wasn’t the most knowledgeable on ghosts, so he couldn’t exactly say much, but surely something was weird. A death record but no grave?

“This is weird. A death record but no grave?” Adam pried.

“He might’ve gotten cremated.” James shrugged.

“His family doesn’t know. I’m pretty sure they’d know if their own _child_ was _cremated._ Especially considering it has a birth and death date with a name, someone must’ve known.” Adam attempted again. Even if he did get cremated, there was no way that his parents wouldn’t know about that, plus it had all his personal information, so someone had to know about who Phantom was previously, and be willing to hide that secret from his parents.

“He had a sister, didn’t he? She could’ve signed the records off and been sworn to secrecy by her brother.” Rosie butted in, her head tilting to the side, “People do crazy things when they’re grieving. And she’s already kept his secret from his parents, so who’s to say she didn’t keep his death a secret too?”

“All I wonder is how negligent some people have to be to not notice their own son’s death.” Lancer frowned, “And for the sister to keep it a secret too. Awfully tragic, all of it.”

_(After so long, Maddie and Jack Fenton were becoming aware of their obliviousness and figuring ways to help their son. Meanwhile, Danny was flying, eyes virulent with determination, he knew exactly where he was headed)._

“It was nearly a year ago. There’s gotta be a reason why he kept it from his parents.” Dash pointed out, then looked towards the screen, “Jay, huh? I don’t recognise that surname. Says he died in Amity Park, too.”

“Would’ve just started high school because he was 14. Maybe he would’ve come to Caspar.” Rosie blinked, then her eyes went wide. Phantom could’ve been in their year!

“Phantom would have joined our school? That’s pretty awesome! He’d be an A Lister for sure.”

_(Danny continued to fly, spotting the outline of the high school in his field of vision. He would’ve gotten there earlier if it wasn’t for the gaggle of fans or a fight with Skulker. There had to be a reason why they were doing this. Why would Dash, his bully, join with losers like himself? There was no other reason but to find out information about him)._

But for some reason, that didn’t sit right with the dark blue eyed boy. It was a perfectly good explanation, Adam figured, but something just still didn’t make sense. What happened to Phantom’s body? Did he bury it himself? If it had been sent to a morgue his parents would’ve found out, but they didn’t, and maybe the body had been unidentifiable, but it clearly wasn't as they had the names and dates. He had a sneaking suspicion about something.

“James, how easy would it be for someone to say.. make a fake death record?” Adam waved his hands, avoiding the accusing looks that set onto him instantly. They obviously thought he didn’t believe it was Phantom.

“Why do you want to know that? It is Phantom’s record, the information matches up. But if you’re interested it would take someone with pretty neat hacking skills, like that Tucker Foley dude in computer class.”

“Uh, no reason.” Adam shook his head and coughed, “Just wondering.”

“Are you thinking Phantom faked his death record? The one contribution you make, dweeb, and it’s trying to deny the information that we have.” Dash said.

“Not at all.” Adam shook his head and gulped, he didn’t need another run in with Dash, “Just genuinely curious about all these records, it’s really interesting stuff.” 

“You’re such a dweeb. Interested in stupid records.” Dash rolled his eyes, then began to stroll towards the door, “We’ve found our information, I’m leaving.”

While the records were cool, in his head Adam was wildly plotting a theory that Phantom had died, was too scared to tell his parents, got his sister on the secret, knew as a ghost people would question his past life and death (like they were doing), so enlisted the help of Tucker Foley to make a fake death record to throw people off the scent of what truly happened — that Adam didn’t know yet. Yes, it was ridiculous, much more ridiculous to what the rest had come up with, but it was only a theory, it wasn’t as if Phantom had really enlisted the help of Tucker Foley to make him a fake death record.

_(‘Tucker should’ve never made those fake death records. They were made to throw people off the scent, but it’s just dragged them further.’ Danny thought to himself angrily as he approached Caspar High, floating near the library windows. Now, how would he even approach this?)_

In fact, now that Adam thought about it, it did sound very stupid. He flushed, and was about to head out the classroom after Dash, when a loud tapping on the window echoed in the mostly empty library.

“What was that?” Rosie questioned, turning around from the group to look in fear at the windows. There were other murmurs of confusion and worry as they all continued to sharply stare at the windows with intense razor stares.

Phantom’s green eyes stared back.

* * *

The room remained in utter silence as Phantom phased through the wall, landing gently on the floor in front of them. His green eyes were blazing furiously, with a determined glint to them.

They didn’t know what to say. Why was he here?

Amongst them the group gave each other knowing stares. Phantom would not find out about the memorial until the time was right.

The white haired ghost tilted his head, as if figuring out what to say.

“Why’d you do it?” He questioned, hand gesturing to each of them. Dash looked as if he was about to faint, bouncing up and down with a hidden smile as the ghost glanced at each of them. 

Rosie looked down, her glance astray. Her hands dug deeply into a chair that she leant on. “I’m guessing you’re talking about our club.”

“Yes.” Phantom nodded, direct and firmly as he folded his arms. “Why did you go digging through my past life? I understand fans wanting to find more, but looking through the death records is.. extreme.”

“In all honesty, Mr Phantom, we can’t tell you.” Edward Lancer shrugged his shoulders, biting his lip deeply and praying no one would spill the secret.

Danny kicked the carpet with his foot, trying not to let his anger show through. Here they were, digging through information, and there was no reason?

“I believe there’s a reason, but you don’t want to tell me.” Danny spoke, and Lancer nodded.

“There’s things in my past life, I’ll admit, that don’t add up. I’ve got secrets. All I ask is if you do come across these secrets, please, please keep them to yourselves. If there was a risk of them coming out, it’d ruin everything.” Danny could feel his voice on the edge of desperation, they weren’t going to tell him why. The only thing he could do was pray that they didn’t tell anyone if they did find out things.

“Nothing leaves this room.” Rosie nodded, and gave a small smile back to them. “Right guys?”

There was a chorus of “yes” from the rest of the group as Danny let himself relax, despite the worry that crawled up his spine. It was the best he could do. It couldn’t stay hidden forever, but there was a part of him that wished it could.

“So, Daniel Jay, huh?” James wavered, then smirked. “The name suits you.”

“Heh, yeah.” Danny laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. Using his first name and part of his middle name for a fake death record maybe hadn’t been the best idea.

“Is it true that if you hadn’t become a ghost that you’d have gone to Caspar? Do you have a sister like Lancer said?”

Lancer had mentioned his sister? Danny gave a small sideways glare to the teacher as he faced back towards the overenthusiastic Dash.

“Yup, would’ve gone to Caspar if I hadn’t died. Lab accident in the middle of the summer holidays made sure of that. Yup, I have a sister, she was there when it happened.” (It had actually been Tucker and Sam with him at the portal accident, but best substitute Jazz in instead).

So, it did match with the record. And his sister had been there when he died, that must’ve been.. traumatic to say the least.

It was weird to think that if anything had gone different, Phantom would’ve gone to Caspar High and been a normal student.

“I bet you would’ve been an A-Lister, one of the most popular in the class!” Dash smirked. Phantom definitely would’ve been an A-Lister with how strong he was, maybe even on the football team.

  
Phantom snickered lightly. “That popularity would’ve been nice, for like two seconds. I doubt anyone would’ve wanted to be around the loser that was me.”

“Nah, you could’ve totally been with the A-Listers, everyone would love you!”

“Maybe we shouldn’t be talking about what could’ve been.” Phantom quickly interrupted Dash, his green eyes filled with a little bit of anger. Talking about what a ghost’s life could’ve been wasn’t the way to go.

“I better be leaving now, anyway.” Phantom went to turn, 

“Daniel!” Lancer’s shout made the white haired ghost freeze, as he turned around, green eyes frozen wide, with a fearful look on his face. He probably hadn’t been called that in months, Lancer realised with a slight sadness.

“I- just call me Phantom, please.” The ghost settled down, face flushing green in shame.

“All this will make sense eventually. We can’t tell you, but keep an eye out for the town centre on Saturday.” Still inwardly scolding himself for calling the ghost Daniel, Lancer sighed. Best let Phantom know now.

“Okay?” Danny jumped and caught himself in the air, confused. Keep an eye out for the town centre? What was happening? He stored it internally as he began to fly out the building. “Bye!”

There was a collective sigh of relief as the ghost left, Dash still awestruck, Mr Lancer still ashamed, Rosie wondering silently about his own sister apparently seeing his death.

One thing was agreed, they wouldn’t spill secrets. It was obvious that Phantom’s secret was that his parents didn’t know he was dead, and that he didn’t want them finding out he was a ghost. They’d keep that secret for him, it was the least they could do.

And Adam couldn’t help but think that the secret Phantom meant was completely different to what they thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Memorial Club has finally found Phantom’s death record and all of his secrets! Or so they think.. Adam’s getting suspicious that there’s more to this. Hopefully Dash can learn that Phantom isn’t the invincible hero on a pedestal that he portrays him as. Danny’s death record and how he even has one will be explained further in depth (it’s already been partially said what happened, even if just through a theory).
> 
> Danny’s parents will not be finding out that he’s Phantom in this story, they’ve found out about his powers and in later chapters we’ll see them adapt to this knowledge (not talking about dissecting ghosts, more observant of Danny and willing to talk) and the impact this change has on Danny after he’s been so distant from them. Danny isn’t quite ready to tell his parents yet, (considering Phantom was the top ghost on their dissection list it’s understandable why he doesn’t want to tell them). 
> 
> I also went ahead and added some song lyrics above the chapters as songs which I think match with the chapter and what’s happening. I’ll add them all as a playlist in the end, and had quite a lot of fun doing it. This chapter’s song is "Break The Silence" by True Tides. I was gonna end this at the bit where Danny was looking through the window, but I didn’t want to leave stuff on another cliffhanger. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter! More will be coming soon! Feel free to leave comments, I appreciate feedback and constructive criticism where I can get it. 
> 
> Murphy :)

**Author's Note:**

> So I decided to write a new fanfic, haven’t written anything in almost a month though. I think it’ll be about five chapter or maybe a little more than that. There are a few OC’s in this (Rosie, James, Adam), but that’s all.


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